Dealing with Dormant Packages: Ensuring Debian’s High Standards

DebConf25, 14. July 2025

Through the Bug of the Day effort, I have noticed a significant number of packages that have not been uploaded for a long time. In most cases, the maintainer is unresponsive to ITS bug reports or other attempts to reach them. Currently, we have three main options for handling such situations:

1. The MIA process
2. ITS (Intent to Salvage)
3. NMUs (Non-Maintainer Uploads)

However, these mechanisms are not always sufficient to uphold Debian’s high-quality standards. In this BoF, I want to discuss potential improvements to our approach, based on conversations during DebCamp, and explore additional strategies to better maintain package quality in Debian.

Notes can be done in the pad.